have portrayed a depth of sensual degradation
capable of being reached only by that order of creation which alone has
been able to develop a religion.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE CROSS AND A DYING SAVIOR.

In Egypt, the cross when unaccompanied by any other symbol signified
simply creative energy both female and male, but whenever a
distinctively female emblem was present it denoted the male power alone.
The Ibis, which is represented with human hands and feet, bears the
staff of Isis in one hand and the cross in the other. There is scarcely
an obelisk or monument in Egypt upon which this figure does not appear.
The symbol or monogram of Venus was a circle and a cross, that of Saturn
was a cross and a ram's horn.

Plato declared that the son of God was expressed upon the universe in
the form of the letter X, and that the second power of the supreme God
was figured on the universe in the shape of a cross.

There is little doubt that the early Christians understood full well the
true meaning of the cross, and that it was no new device. In later ages,
however, every monument of antiquity marked with this symbol was claimed
by the Church and by it believed to be of Christian origin.

It is related that when the temple of Serapis at Alexandria was
overthrown by one of the Christian Emperors, beneath its foundation
was discovered the monogram of Christ. The Christians made use of this
circumstance to prove the divine origin of their religion, "thereby
making many converts." The Pagans, on the contrary, were of the opinion
that "it should forever silence the claim put forward by the devotees of
Christianity." It is plain, however, that the Christians had the better
of the argument for "the cross being uneasy under the weight of the
temple overthrew it."

On the coins of Decius, the great persecutor of the Christians, is to be
observed the monogram of Christ which is also the monogram of Osiris and
Jupiter Ammon. On a medal proved to be Phoenician appear the cross, the
rosary, and the lamb. There is another form of the same monogram which
signifies DCVIII. These devices although in use hundreds of years prior
to the Christian era are all said to be monograms of Christ. At the
present time they may be seen in almost every church in Italy.

In the cave of Elephanta, in India, appears the cross in connection with
the figure which represents male reproductive power. Inman relates that
a cross with a rosary attached has been fou